U.S. Open judge accused of killing husband passes polygraph test

Lois Ann Goodman, the tennis judge arrested the day before this year's U.S. Open and charged in her husband's death, has passed a polygraph test in which she denied bludgeoning him with a coffee cup.

Goodman's attorneys told Associated Press that they have emailed the results to the district attorney's office and want prosecutors to consider dismissing charges against the 70-year-old woman.

“I'm hopeful that they are going to reassess their case,” Alison Triessl, one of Goodman's attorneys, said in a phone interview with Associated Press. “The facts just don't support that there was a murder. The results of the polygraph prove Lois Goodman did not kill her husband. He died in a freak accident.”

A district attorney's spokeswoman said the office will not comment until the material is brought up in court.

Goodman has pleaded not guilty to killing her 80-year-old husband, Alan Goodman, by beating him with a coffee cup and using its broken handle to stab him. She said he fell down the steps while holding a coffee cup, causing his fatal injuries.

Authorities initially believed he fell down the stairs but later decided it was homicide after a mortuary reported that the body had suspicious head injuries.

Lois Ann Goodman was arrested in August just before she was to referee a match at the U.S. Open in New York.

Triessl said the lie detector test was given by a well-known FBI-trained polygrapher, Jack Trimarco, who has administered more than 3,000 such exams, many in high-profile cases. His report was instrumental in getting charges dismissed against a man initially charged in the Bryan Stow-Dodger Stadium assault case.